Aura Sustainability Ltd is launching a range of core services that aim to add value to New Zealand wine producers.

Sustainability is fast becoming a critical business strategy which is being driven by such factors as consumer expectation, competitor advances, value chain requirements and brand equity.

Roger Kerrison, Managing Director of Aura, says that the services are based on a very simple premise.

"We want to assist clients in helping them to do the right thing, tell people about it, make money from doing the right thing, do more of the right thing, tell some more people about it, make some more money…..and so on and so forth," says Kerrison. "Because investing in environmental and social sustainability is mainly a voluntary initiative, producers who do invest need to remain financially competitive and therefore there needs to be a payback in the market."

Mr Kerrison goes on to say, "The next few years are going to see many more wines branded as sustainable and there is an enormous opportunity for New Zealand producers to have a world leading point of difference in terms of economic, social and environmental sustainability."

The range of services Aura has developed spans a broad spectrum of sustainability issues and given that many of the services offered may also be eligible for NZTE funding, it provides producers with an extremely cost effective external resource. The services are:

Aura works with some of New Zealand's pioneers in sustainable wine production, including Yealands Estate and Grove Mill, and have assisted in the development of such programmes as Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand and carboNZeroCERT TM.